The present invention relates to a hot-gas piston type engine having a heat exchanger constructed to act as a compression space of a cylinder of said engine.
Such a hot-gas piston type engine and its utilization for heat plants, refrigerating plants and power plants is described in the co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 275,787, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,959, issued Mar. 13, 1984. The heat exchanger consists e.g. of a plurality of adequatly arranged small pipes or ribs which are in direct contact on the one hand with the gas in the compression space and on the other hand either with the burning space of an oil or gas burner in the case of a driving machine or with the medium to be heated, like water, in the case of a heat pump. It is obvious that the configuration of the compression space and the type of the heat transfer are particularly important for the power and the efficiency of the plant. It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the heat transfer between the gas in the compression space and the heat medium in the burning space or in the heat plant in order to increase the efficiency and the power of a hot-gas piston type engine as mentioned above.